Our latest release includes an important performance bugfix for React.lazy. Although there are no API changes, we’re releasing it as a minor instead of a patch.

Why Is This Bugfix a Minor Instead of a Patch?

React follows semantic versioning. Typically, this means that we use patch versions for bugfixes, and minors for new (non-breaking) features. However, we reserve the option to release minor versions even if they do not include new features. The motivation is to reserve patches for changes that have a very low chance of breaking. Patches are the most important type of release because they sometimes contain critical bugfixes. That means patch releases have a higher bar for reliability. It’s unacceptable for a patch to introduce additional bugs, because if people come to distrust patches, it compromises our ability to fix critical bugs when they arise — for example, to fix a security vulnerability.